Michele Coleman Mayes, vice president, general counsel and secretary for The New York Public Library (“NYPL”), has paved the way for women in the legal profession to achieve their professional goals. Co-author of Courageous Counsel, which chronicles the rise of women general counsel in the Fortune 500, Mayes brings extensive legal, corporate and government experience and perspective to all of her endeavors. From 1976 through 1982, Mayes served in the United States Department of Justice as Assistant United States Attorney in Detroit and Brooklyn, eventually assuming the role of Chief of the Civil Division in Detroit. Mayes entered the corporate sector in 1982, as managing attorney of Burroughs Corporation and was appointed staff vice president and associate general counsel for Worldwide Litigation when Burroughs and Sperry Corporation merged and formed Unisys Corporation. In 1992, she joined Colgate-Palmolive Company as vice president and associate general counsel U.S. Quickly rising through the ranks, she was promoted to vice president, legal and assistant secretary. In 2003, Mayes joined Pitney Bowes as senior vice president and general counsel. And in 2007, she assumed the role of executive vice president and general counsel for Allstate Insurance Company, a position she held until joining NYPL. A recipient of numerous industry awards, including the American Bar Association, Commission on Women in the Profession - The Margaret Brent Award, the Minority Corporate Counsel Association Trailblazer Award, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from The American Lawyer, Mayes leads by example and demonstrates through her own talent, persistence and commitment that women can reach their highest potential in every organization they touch. She observes that it's fine to be the first and as long as you are not the last.

Kara Baysinger, a partner in Denton's San Francisco office, has achieved not only professional excellence in her legal career as Head of the Firm's Insurance sector and a key member of the Firm’s leadership team, but has also helped pave the way to success for other women lawyers through Courageous Counsel on the unique issues and challenges facing women at the height of the legal profession. Throughout her two-decade legal career, Baysinger has split her time between private practice and work as an in-house counsel and executive. The former deputy general counsel of a large insurance company, she joined Dentons US LLP (formerly SNR Denton) in 1998 and has risen to the top of her profession, consistently listed among the preeminent attorneys in her field in ratings guides such as Chambers and Legal 500. On top of a demanding practice for large insurance industry clients and firm board commitments, Kara is also a leader of Dentons' Women’s Network. Kara has always viewed workplace diversity and women’s advancement as a calling. She has mentored and sponsored junior employees in her in-house roles as well as at Dentons, making a mantra of her advice to mentees to “own their professional development, to find mentors and sponsors, to do critical self-assessments, and to understand how to seek, accept and synthesize feedback from supervisors.”